To facilitate the use of available land within towns and villages for housing development.

There is a presumption in favour of housing development, on sites within the development limits of rural settlements, provided they meet normal planning criteria, there are no infrastructural constraints and the sites have not been designated for some other use. Where sites are not individually zoned in a settlement, the development plan will set out clear policy criteria against which applications for housing development will be considered.

The identification of development sites within all settlements requires the assessment of a variety towns and villages for of physical and environmental constraints to development.

These will include:

open space, within and surrounding the existing built-up area, which must be protected because of its contribution to the visual character of the settlement;

nature conservation areas;

quality agricultural land;

land liable to flooding;

conservation of the built environment and its setting, and of archaeologicalsites and monuments; and

infrastructure

The planning criteria will normally require that the proposed development is:

of a scale and design appropriate to the existing form and character of the settlement;

consistent with the existing or proposed level of services in the settlement; and